Keeping Streeterville Safe - Communities - Pioneer Press

CHiLDrEN’S mEmOriAL HOSPiTAL
Children’s Hospital Taking Shape
in Streeterville: An inside Look
Streeterville neighbors and visitors
soon will have the complete outer
view of Children’s Memorial
Hospital’s new 23-story, state-of-the-art
facility, named Ann & Robert H. Lurie
Children’s Hospital of Chicago. The new
hospital opens in summer 2012 and is
more than 60% percent complete.
As the construction focus turns to the
interior spaces that will house the
hospital’s innovative programs, the new
prime location on the medical campus of
Northwestern university Feinberg School
of Medicine already is helping to entice
top pediatric specialists to Chicago.
NATiONAL LEADEr TO HEAD
A UNiQUE CArDiAC UNiT
A perfect example is the recent
recruitment of John Costello, MD, MPH,
an emerging national leader in pediatric
cardiac and critical care from Children’s
Hospital Boston. Costello will head the
Regenstein Cardiac Care unit (CCu),
which will be one of the few pediatric
units of its kind in the country.
The exterior of Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital
of Chicago is near complete and now much of the work is
focused on the 1.25 million square feet of interior space.
Lurie Children’s will open its doors in Summer of 2012.
This unique 36-bed unit taking the entire
15th floor of the new building is designed
to combine cardiac intensive care
resources with the amenities of a private
acute-care room. This model improves
patient safety and comfort by allowing
all cardiac patients to remain in the same
unit and with the same caregivers from
admission to discharge.
Landscape architect Mikyoung Kim (left) and members of the
Kids’ Advisory Board at Children’s Memorial get a first-hand
look at the progress of the Crown Sky Garden. One design
feature of the respite area will be an interactive translucent
wall that will change colors as children approach. The Kids’
Advisory Board has worked closely with Kim throughout the
design process of the garden.
“The biggest advance of the CCu is that
technology and expertise will be brought
to the patients, rather than requiring
them to move about the hospital to
receive care,” explains Costello. “The
proximity to Prentice Women’s Hospital
is also a big advantage. This location
will facilitate our ability to provide care
for neonates with serious heart defects
who need urgent cardiac stabilization
and intervention, while simultaneously
keeping them close to their mothers
who are recovering from delivery at
Prentice.”
Dr. John Costello (left) looks over plans for the Regenstein
Cardiac Care Unit with Bruce Komiske, Chief of New Hospital
Design and Construction at Lurie Children’s.
EXPANDED EmErGENCy CAPACiTy
Another unique feature taking shape
at Lurie Children’s is The Kenneth and
Anne Griffin Emergency Care Center
located on the second floor, a model
that hospitals across the country are
now adapting to enhance safety. Nearly
doubling the number of emergency
beds, Lurie Children’s will be able to
accommodate over 75,000 children,
which is 10,000 more patients than the
current emergency department in the
Lincoln Park facility can handle.
The view from the 5,000 square foot Crown Sky Garden
located on the 11th and 12th floors of Lurie Children’s.
A GArDEN AmONG SkySCrAPErS
Located on the 11th floor and completely
enclosed by glass, the 5,000 square
foot Crown Sky Garden promises to be
an awe-inspiring respite and activity
area for patients and their families. The
translucent interactive light wall that
will change color as children approach
is in the initial stages of installation.
Renowned landscape architect Mikyoung
Kim worked closely with patients on
the Kids’ Advisory Board at Children’s
Memorial to refine the design.
BEiNG PArT OF THE COmmUNiTy
Lurie Children’s will officially open its
doors in summer of 2012, but the buzz
about being part of the Streeterville
community has already started. “Our
many employees, physicians, patients
and families are excited about the new
facility and the opportunity to enjoy all
the shops, restaurants, hotels, and other
services that our new neighborhood will
have to offer us.” says Patrick Magoon,
President and CEO of Children’s
Memorial. “We look forward to being
your neighbor and being part of the
spectacular North Michigan Avenue
area.”
To learn more about Lurie Children’s Hospital, visit:
www.childrensmemorial.org/newhospital
2010-2011 STREETERVILLE COMMUNITY GUIDE 9